Friday, April 22, 2011
by Mike Whitman (mwhitman@sherdog.com)
A light heavyweight attraction between Rich Franklin and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira is being targeted for UFC 133.
The promotion announced that the fighters have verbally agreed to the bout, which will go down Aug. 6 from the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia. Though not officially announced by the promotion, UFC 133 is also expected to feature a pair of intriguing middleweight tilts, as former light heavyweight king Vitor Belfort squares of with judoka Yoshihiro Akiyama and Jorge Rivera meets Alessio Sakara.
Once the UFC’s top middleweight, Franklin (Pictured; file photo) has competed at fluctuating weights since his second loss to Anderson Silva in 2007. Since that time, “Ace” has found mixed results at light heavyweight, knocking out Matt Hamill and Chuck Liddell, while dropping decisions to Dan Henderson and most recently Forrest Griffin at UFC 126 in February. Franklin has gone 2-3 in his last five Octagon appearances, which included two 195-pound catchweight bouts.
Once a star for Japan’s Pride Fighting Championships, Nogueira had a seven-fight winning streak snapped last year with back-to-back defeats inside the Octagon. After making an impressive UFC debut against Luiz Cane in 2009, Nogueira eked out a split decision over Jason Brilz the following year before dropping a unanimous nod to Ryan Bader at UFC 119 in September. Nogueira most recently competed at UFC Fight Night 24 last month, dropping another unanimous decision to a decorated wrestler in Phil Davis.
by Mike Whitman (mwhitman@sherdog.com)
A light heavyweight attraction between Rich Franklin and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira is being targeted for UFC 133.
The promotion announced that the fighters have verbally agreed to the bout, which will go down Aug. 6 from the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia. Though not officially announced by the promotion, UFC 133 is also expected to feature a pair of intriguing middleweight tilts, as former light heavyweight king Vitor Belfort squares of with judoka Yoshihiro Akiyama and Jorge Rivera meets Alessio Sakara.
Once the UFC’s top middleweight, Franklin (Pictured; file photo) has competed at fluctuating weights since his second loss to Anderson Silva in 2007. Since that time, “Ace” has found mixed results at light heavyweight, knocking out Matt Hamill and Chuck Liddell, while dropping decisions to Dan Henderson and most recently Forrest Griffin at UFC 126 in February. Franklin has gone 2-3 in his last five Octagon appearances, which included two 195-pound catchweight bouts.
Once a star for Japan’s Pride Fighting Championships, Nogueira had a seven-fight winning streak snapped last year with back-to-back defeats inside the Octagon. After making an impressive UFC debut against Luiz Cane in 2009, Nogueira eked out a split decision over Jason Brilz the following year before dropping a unanimous nod to Ryan Bader at UFC 119 in September. Nogueira most recently competed at UFC Fight Night 24 last month, dropping another unanimous decision to a decorated wrestler in Phil Davis.
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